Archive for June 2014

Many of you have been following me in my journey to The Tiny Life for a while now. While I tend to focus on the building and design of tiny houses, what I have come to realize is that even though its fun to talk about the houses and how to build them, it really isn’t about the houses, it’s about the life you lead in them. In an odd way, its not the house that is so great, its the life that is amazing.

Recently I was thinking about this fact as I was re-reading my book that just released (find it here) and I realized that in many ways you can still live tiny, without a tiny house at all. So here are some ways you can live The Tiny Life right now.

Learn To Say No

In this world saying no is almost unheard of. We often either get pulled into things we really don’t want to do or we say non-committal things like “Let me get back to you” when you hope they never follow up. One thing I’ve learned is important is when there is something that I am not interested in participating in or doing, I just clearly decline and make no apologies for it. Be willing to say no, you don’t have to be rude, but be clear, “Honestly, I’m just not interested in it” or “I don’t have the time to do a good job with this, so I’ll have to pass, thanks.”

Proactively Remove Negative Influences And Sources Of Stress

I have had two people that really shaped this rule for me in my life: I once worked with a person who always had some sort of drama in their life, no matter how good things were, there was always some catastrophe happening. The second one was when I found myself in a situation where I had to regularly interact with someone who frankly was just a really terrible human being; they were manipulative, easily moved to violence, and had a lot of self destructive behaviors that they inflicted on others.

It taught me a valuable lesson, there are people or situations that you must actively work to remove yourself from. If they cause stress, unhappiness, or cause drama in your life, you need to get them out of your life. This goes for friends too. I will only put in effort into relationships that I feel the other person equally values me. There have been times where I have had friends who were flaky, always late, or didn’t ever develop into a deeper platonic relationship that I just let go and let them peter out.

Thin Your Email In Box

One thing I have learned with running this website is how to handle a lot of email effectively. I have developed a few rules that I abide by to make it easier. I realized that I don’t want to be efficient with email, but instead I have worked hard to reduce the email volume, which I must be efficient in handling. Spending an hour to help setup a system where people can find their answer on their own, has come back 100 fold. Think of how you could do the same in your life or situation, just adapt it.

Realize your email inbox is a convenient way for other people to organize their agenda.

Always think about how you can reduce the volume of emails you get.

Always to clearly define the next needed action, otherwise close the loop on that email.

If they don’t ask a question, it isn’t actionable or are not clear in message, don’t respond.

Set up email filters for things that you get often or as a way to segment different areas of your life.

If its a newsletter that I find myself not reading regularly, I unsubscribe right away. I can always add myself back.

If they ask for something I often follow up with a request to do a small task (want to talk? I ask for an agenda) this weeds out people

Define You Career By The Life You Want To Lead, Not The Other Way Around

Your job/career should support and accommodate the life you want to lead, not the other way around. To do this you must first know what life you want. It is easy to fall in the trap of letting your career dictate the life you lead (work schedules, vacations, soul crushing activities),

I’ve been there myself and there are times where you just need a job to pay the bills. So if you are in a tight spot, get a income source, but once you have gained that stabilizing income, you must then quickly move to a more proactive place where you either morph your job to be what you need or start looking for / building your perfect job that accommodates your life.

I once took a job that I knew I would hate, but I realized that it would buy me just enough time (3-6 months) of income to allow me to find the job that I really wanted. It meant that I could walk away from offers that weren’t great and hold out for a better one, at that point I really didn’t have anything to lose.

The Pareto Principle

This is more commonly known as the 80/20 rule which states that 80% of the outcome or effect comes from 20% of the cause. For example, 80% of the happiness comes from 20% of the people in your life, because they are the most important people to you. On the flip side, 20% of your time spent at work actually yields 80% of your income.

The trick with this rule is to identify that 20% that causes the 80% and if its good, focus on it; if it is bad, eliminate it. So in the instance of something good, say relationships, spend 80% of your time on the top 20% of your relationships. Conversely, if 80% of customers complaints at work come from 20% of your customers, break it off with them.

Learn To Slow Down, But Be Intentional

I’ve learned over the past two years that I can be far more productive if I am intentional. I have had so many people in my professional life say to me that I always seem laid back, but get a ton done. The truth is I do a lot less work then them, but when I do work, it is calculated. I actively work to minimize what is on my plate instead of working longer hours to get an overloaded to do list done. I think about what I can do that is most effective and then how I can achieve it most efficiently. Finally anything I do more than a few times, I look for ways to automate.

So when it comes time for me to do something, I have the time to do it correctly, I have worked out the best way to do it, and then in many cases I have automated it so I don’t have to worry about it at all.

So these are just some of the ways you can start living The Tiny Life now, even if you don’t live in a tiny house just yet.

Having been working with Tiny Houses for years now, I have run into many instances where people have some perceptions of tiny house folks that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sometimes I feel like informing them of how it really is to live tiny, but other days, I just don’t have it in me to say anything. So today I thought I’d lay to rest some of the common misconceptions about tiny houses and the people who live in them.

1. We hate stuff

While it is true we don’t like the gratuitous, debt accumulating, clutter creating consumption of stuff for consumption sake, we aren’t against things. In fact the things we own and take up space in our tiny houses, we really really like. We have decided to only have those things that make our lives richer, happier and in some cases easier.

2. We don’t have a lot of money or a job

I remember one conversation I had with a woman that came walking off the street to see my tiny house. After talking a while, I mentioned it had taken a while to build because I could only work on it when I wasn’t working. She looked at me with astonishment and said “oh you have a job” she then alluded that my job must not be well paying and I informed her I had a good job white collar job that paid very well. Her face was filled with a look of confusion.

The ironic thing is that most tiny house folks actually make more than the average American, are gainfully employed at good jobs. What is more, we keep most of what we make, meaning we often don’t have any debt and we have more saved up. Recently a report release by PEW showed that someone with no debt and $100 in the bank account has a higher net worth than most people in America.

3. We say no to big houses

For a long time I thought I was saying “no” to big houses, fancy cars, nice clothes, etc. but I realized one day that I wasn’t saying “no”, but in fact saying “yes”. I am saying “yes” to a life where I have no debt, where I have exactly what I need, to a job where I only have to work a few hours a week, and “yes” to travel, pursuit of passions, hobbies and interests.

So its not so much I’m rejecting bigger houses, but embracing the benefits of smaller living.

4. You can’t have a relationship or a family in a tiny house

Time and time again I get asked about families and relationships in a tiny house. There are plenty of examples of people who are couples and also plenty of examples of families who live in a tiny house. The truth is it’s possible, but its not for everyone. Don’t get caught up in “I have to be ____ number of square feet because that is what a tiny house is” Forget that notion, do what makes sense for you and those you live with. If I were to want to cohabitate with someone else, would I live in a tiny house with them? HELL NO! Would I get a bigger house than a tiny house, but small compared to most houses, most definitely. For some though, a tiny house as a couple is great. For some families, they might live in 800 square feet or maybe more; that’s okay too.

5. A tiny house isn’t a real house

Every time someone learns that I live in a tiny house that don’t know what they are I get all the same questions. Does it have a bathroom, a sink, a kitchen, a shower, a toilet, a bed, electricity, water, internet? The answer is yes, yes, and yes. My house has every creature comfort you could want and so do most tiny houses. Tiny houses have all the same systems that a traditional house has, it is built the same way (mostly) and uses most of the same materials. There are some things that I have chosen not to have like a dish washer and microwave, but that’s because I didn’t want them.

We just launched the new Tiny House Conference website with all the details about our 2015 Tiny House Conference which will be held in Portland, OR. With the launch of the site we are announcing our early bird tickets, which you save $50 on each ticket!

1. $50 off until Oct. 1st

It isn’t often we do discounts on tickets and I got dozens of emails last year asking if there was going to be another sale as we got closer to the event. I had to sadly say there wasn’t and people who waited to the last few months or weeks, had to pay full price.

2. You get first pick of your sessions

We are doing things a little different than last year. This year we are having people choose their sessions at the time of registration. Meaning that as the sessions fill up, your choices will be less. So for those who register early, they can choose any session they want, while those who wait to the last minute might have no choice at all, because the other sessions are filled up.

3. You’ll get first chance at booking the accommodations of your choice

You may decide that you want to stay at the hotel, but some may opt for a hostel or an airbnb; what about booking a stay at the Tiny House Hotel which is in Portland? I know the hostels have limited beds, the Tiny House Hotel only has 5 tiny houses to stay in, so if you wait until later, your options may be limited.

4. Flights are much cheaper right now

Booking flights last minute can get expensive, so don’t wait until the very end. A recent trip to Portland from the east coast was only $350 round trip when I booked it 3 months in advance; I checked a few weeks before I left and the same flight had risen to $1,200!

5. We have some pretty awesome special surprises coming your way

For those who register in 2014 we are going to have pretty amazing bonus material that we will be announcing soon. Things like free exclusive videos, free webinars, and special emails.

This month my spotlight on design features Asheville, North Carolina’s father and son design team, Gerry and Teal Brown, at Wishbone Tiny Homes. They were recently spotted at the Tiny House Conference this past spring. With their new location in the up and coming west side of Asheville, they are creating homes that offer “a return to some natural truth…a universal and natural connection to small” as Teal described when I spoke to him last month.

Although we site Sarah Susanka, Jay Shafer, and Dee Williams as some of the trailblazers of the tiny house movement, we have been inspired by dwellings throughout world history that would be considered “tiny” by current standards. Indigenous cultures have always lived in spaces that accommodate necessary daily activities but do not demand excessive resources to build and maintain. You can see these principles in action in the modern, urban context as well. Looking even further into the subject, wild animals tend to build with locally sourced, sustainable resources, and usually take only what they need for their nests. The way we see it, tiny houses represent a return to some natural truth that we have somehow collectively forgotten as we have enabled our technologies to distance us from co-existing with the land around us. The urge to build tiny comes from a deep, innate place in our human existence, and we seek to explore that.

What is your ideal vision in building and sustaining tiny house construction and what life experiences brought your developing such housing?

My dad has been building houses and doing fine woodworking for 40 years +. I learned a tremendous amount growing up under his lead. I also took and loved furniture and cabinetmaking classes in high school. Additionally, I have several building science-related certifications that provide a firm understanding of energy efficiency, sustainability, and renewable energy as they relate to residential construction. Tiny house design provides the ultimate platform to reflect these concepts in the highest form. My dad and I have always enjoyed working together. We share the same mind but also manage to compliment each other’s skills. The mere fact that we can do something as a team that we find meaningful to society keeps us motivated to push forward. We like to help people achieve their dreams too. This means that we might consult on one tiny house and build another. In whatever capacity we can be involved in making a tiny home come true, we are eager to do that.

Rustic Modern, Craftsman, Japanese architecture, Greene and Greene, an architecture firm of the early 20th century which greatly influenced the American Arts and Crafts movement as well as aspects of Contemporary in regards to functionality, space saving techniques and energy efficiency.

What demographic are you attempting to reach?

Honestly, there isn’t a demographic we aren’t trying to reach. We believe that the inherent versatility of tiny structures (especially those on wheels), makes them relevant to all walks of life. A tiny home can represent a dignified solution to affordable housing for one group and a unique camping experience for another. In this burgeoning share economy, tiny homes can provide a legitimate investment opportunity as a rental as well.

Are you going to have workshops this summer geared towards building tiny houses?

We will hold workshops in the near future. In a previous career I worked for a company that specialized in job-skill training. During my time there I learned the cradle to grave process of curriculum development and delivery. Solar was my particular program and I was charged with creating a classroom and hands-on learning experience for our students. We created a 1KW roof-mounted array that simulated both grid-tied and off-grid applications. We are working on developing a similar program for Wishbone Tiny Homes that combines a classroom portion with an innovative hands-on training module to teach students the whole process of building tiny. More on that soon!

Keep up with the latest from Wishbone on their website and through their blog.

Thanks Teal for taking the time to talk to The Tiny Life. We look forward to seeing Wishbone flourish and expand that tiny life love.